Here's the URL for Lynx info. I don't know if Lynx is available for
anything except Unix. The internet providers I've used have all been
based on Unix shell, so when I leave the menu system and type "lynx" at
the system prompt, there it is. If all you own is an ancient computer
terminal and modem, find an internet provider with Unix shell, and Lynx
will give you the whole WWW.
......................uuuu / oo \ uuuu........,.............................
William Beaty voice:206-781-3320 bbs:206-789-0775 cserv:71241,3623
EE/Programmer/Science exhibit designer http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/
Seattle, WA 98117 billb@eskimo.com SCIENCE HOBBYIST web page
Lynx Optimized Pages!
Table of Contents
* General Web resources: starting points for web exploration.
* Lynx 2.5 released!. Get Lynx 2.5 from (also look at Patches):
+ ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/lynx/
+ ftp://ftp.more.net/pub/mirrors/lynx/
+ ftp://ftp.hhs.dk/fote_mirror/
+ http://www.wfbr.edu/dir/lynx
+ and autoconf to ease userdefs.h modification for multiple
installations http://web.mit.edu/wwwdev/wwwlynxconf.html
+ Important patch for Lynx 2.5 (to fix typo in user agent
header).
* Introduction to "Lynx Enhancement"
* Lynx Development what's being done to adapt Lynx to the evolving
Web.
* Found a bug in Lynx? here's what you should do
* Patches to enhance Lynx's functionality in particular environments
* Lynx Support and Lynx resources world-wide
* Help menus for Lynx 2.5FM power Lynx users know them backwards, do
you?
* Pages enhanced for Lynx
* See Lynx for yourself, public Lynx access and Lynx View for web
authors.
* Designing Web pages, primary resources for web authors
* Documents from the Lynx 2.5 distribution, including help pages
* Appreciative mail from Lynx users.
* Draft documents, we'd appreciate your comments on these.
* Textual material on the Web
What it means to be Lynx Enhanced
Lynx is a full-featured, character-based browser for the World Wide
Web. In most implementations, Lynx provides its users text-based
access to the Web when they work from terminals with limited internet
connectivity.
Some of us believe in the power of the textual medium when combined
with the ability to link. We think the browser Lynx is the most fully
evolved tool available to experience this medium. Quite frankly, it
cuts through the hype and gets at the core of what is essential.
Coupled with this is the fact that the authors of Lynx have
demonstrated formidable ingenuity in creating a browser that can be
ported to a number of platforms while mixing functionality with form
and overcoming the "handicap" of a text-only interface with joyous
confidence. As someone said "what else are people working on VT100
terminals in the Third World going to use?".
Unlike certain other browsers, the Lynx philosophy is
non-exclusionary. As a result, Lynx is portable and Lynx Enhanced
pages look presentable on all browsers. This feat is accomplished with
content-based mark-up, by using the appropriate medium for each type
of information and by renouncing KOOL. Lynx enhanced pages tend to
have a lot of textual information and much content. A Lynx Enhanced
image is often included.
Web pages written with Lynx in mind tend to be testaments to
individuality and respect for the reader. Lynx Enhanced pages will not
attempt to control the manner in which a page is rendered. On the
contrary, they permit the user to choose the manner in which
meta-textual markup is rendered, thus facilitating the use of visual
cues that fit the reader's own preferences and transcending those of
the original author. These authors have no reason to fear that their
pages are uninteresting to readers working with different
hardware/software. Lynx Enhanced Pages are what English professors are
talking about when they speak of "a text that has surpassed its
author."
Lynx Enhanced Pages are resource rich and tend to contain valuable
information. People who maintain Lynx Enhanced Pages are slowly making
the dream of a global library come true. Lynx enhanced pages are
accessible to those using enabling devices. Similarly, it is possible
for robots and index or abstract generation tools to digest
information contained within Lynx optimized pages based on marked-up
content.
[ToC]
Lynx Development
Lynx 2.5 was released by Foteos Macrides on May 2, 1996 (to the
collective jubilation of everyone on the Lynx-Dev mailing list and the
anticipated relief of countless Lynx users). Lynx 2.5 source code is
currently available from ftp://ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/lynx/, http://www.wfbr.edu/dir/lynx mirrored at ftp://ftp.more.net/pub/mirrors/lynx/ and ftp://ftp.hhs.dk/fote_mirror.
You may also wish to use autoconf to ease userdefs.h modification if
you have to install Lynx on multiple platforms, more information at http://web.mit.edu/wwwdev/wwwlynxconf.html Further development is
continuing and Lynx 2.6 can be expected soon, it will contain a number
of changes visible to users and a variety of enhancements to the Lynx
source that allow Lynx to make use of resources more efficiently.
Developmental versions of Lynx have the FM suffix and can be found at
all the locations mentioned above except for UKans.
A crude LYNX tutorial is a guide to using Lynx that compliments the
help menus for Lynx 2.5FM.
One of the best places to learn more about Lynx is the About Lynx page
at the University of Kansas. If you have questions about Lynx, take a
look at the FAQ. A lot of discussion on the future of Lynx takes place
on the Lynx Development mailing list and most of it is recorded in the
lynx-dev archives.
[ToC]
Lynx Support
The University of Kansas did maintain two support groups
lynx-help@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu and lynx-bug@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu for a
period of time, before funding for Lynx stopped. Currently both of
those addresses will return a form-letter asking you to look at this
page for more information. Feel free to browse through the resources
linked to on this page.
A variety of resources that may be useful to Lynx users are found on
the web, some of them are linked to here:
* The About Lynx pages at the University of Kansas
* Lynx's Japanese homepage and it's corresponding English version
provide useful information for Japanese users
Legitimate bug reports should be sent to lynx-dev@sig.net, the Lynx
Development mailing-list. The people on that mailing list are very
familiar with Lynx and should be able to answer your question. As for
lynx-help, we suspect the help menus for Lynx will answer most
questions. Discussion is underway to set up a substitute for the
lynx-help@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu. If such a support group is put
together it will most probably be composed entirely of volunteers. If
you'd like to volunteer for such a project, or have any suggestions,
please contact lynx-dev@sig.net.
[ToC]
See Lynx for yourself
There are a number of sites that will permit public Lynx access via
telnet and a guest account. Web masters can also use web based
services to see how their pages will appear in Lynx.
* Public Lynx at sunsite.unc.edu (login as 'lynx')
* Lynx View, see how a document on the web will appear in Lynx
(latest versions)
* Lynx View mirror in Japan (support for Japanese charsets)
* Lynx-it works like Lynx View
[ToC]
Tips on Style for Web Authors
Too many of us forget some rather basic issues involved in designing
Web pages, and it's good to be reminded of them.
* The CERN Style Guide is probably the essential manual for
Stylists.
* The Center on Information Technology Accommodation provides
suggestions on how one can ensure information is accessible to
persons with disabilities.
* True pedants would want to look at the actual specifications for
HTML 2.0, the proposed drafts of HTML 3.0 and information on Style
sheets. It might also be wise to gain some knowledge of SGML and
other topics related to the Web's history.
* The HTML Reference Manual by <mjhanna@sandia.gov>, de riguer for
HTML authors.
* The HTML validation service from Webtechs permits you to check
your web pages for HTML errors. There's a kinder, gentler
validator in Canada that is easier to digest.
* The folks at WebAble have tips on how to keep your pages
accessible to disabled readers.
* The Web Masters and Tips for Web Spinners pages by Bob Allison
make for great reading and contain invaluable advice all Web
authors can use. Bob Allison has been using ascii art as ALT text
for a long time now.
* The Web Developer's Virtual Library: style is an useful index to
documents containing advice on HTML Style issues.
* A note on how best to use ALT tags. Vital information for those
keeping non-graphical browsers and search engines in mind.
* The Gnus FAQ and the XEmacs FAQ are both enhanced for Lynx.
[ToC]
Lynx 2.5 is here!
Lynx 2.5 was released by Foteos Macrides on May 2, 1996. Foteos has
been co-ordinating Lynx Development since the release of Lynx2-4-1.
Lynx was being updated constantly by a diligent group of developers on
the Lynx-Dev mailing list (I don't do any programming myself). No
final version had been released for almost a year and old versions of
Lynx could not handle the changing environment of the Web very
gracefully. After watching various users trying to utilize older
versions of Lynx without much success, it was decided that the
developmental code Lynx2-4-FM would be released as Lynx 2.5.
Some documents from the lynx 2.5 distribution are archived at this
site, they include copies of the default lynx.cfg file, lynx.hlp,
CHANGES, PROBLEMS etc. They are of interest to anyone who wishes to
install Lynx and users interested in knowing more about how they can
use Lynx effectively.
Lynx 2.5 represents the efforts of the entire Lynx community at
maintaining a valuable tool while the Web develops. Lynx 2.5 has
significant advantages over older versions, some of my favourite
changes are:
* Cleaner handling for tables
* Graceful handling of those elements from the HTML 3.0 DTD (now
expired) that will probably be a part of HTML soon.
* Better printing options
* Support for client side imagemaps
* Lynx -dump enhancements (footnoted hrefs)
* Circular buffers for jump shortcuts, Goto's and searches permit
users to cycle through all previously entered strings with the up
and down arrow keys
* Lynx -traversal & -crawl, used to build a database of pages at a
site
* More manueverability and ease of operation
* Support for Japanese and Russian character sets
* Auto-generation of links for all images with * key-stroke command
For more details see the Lynx 2.5 CHANGES file. On the whole Lynx 2.5
is a breath of fresh air for those struggling with older versions in a
quickly evolving Web.
Release statement for Lynx 2.5
Lynx Ver. 2.5 is now available.
Lynx is a hypertext browser with full World Wide Web capabilities.
It is distributed under the GNU General Public License without restrictions
on usage or redistribution, and is supported by the Lynx user community.
Contact Michael Grobe (grobe@ukans.edu) if you have questions about the
licensing or usage provisions.
Version 2.5 is an official release of the Lynx2-4-FM code set
through May 2, 1996.
See the CHANGES file in the Lynx distribution for a complete list of
changes and bug fixes in this release.
A majordomo list exists for the distribution of Lynx related
information, updates, and development discussion.
lynx-dev@sig.net
Send a subscribe request (subscribe lynx-dev) to majordomo@sig.net
to be added to the list. All new releases will be announced on this list.
To unsubscribe, you should send an unsubscribe request (unsubscribe lynx-dev)
addressed to the majordomo (majordomo@sig.net). Please DO NOT send your
subscribe or unsubscribe requests to the lynx-dev list directly!!!!.
[ToC]
Draft documents for Lynx
The following documents are in the process of being written for
inclusion in the Lynx documentation distributed with the source code,
or at this site. Your comments on these drafts will be appreciated.
Please direct all comments to lynx-drafts@trill-home.com unless the
document specifies another address.
* Tips for Web Authors using Lynx: describes some of the HTML tags
Lynx supports and contains certain recommendations to make pages
accessible to Lynx users.
[ToC]
Textually Oriented material on the Web
* Lycos is the definitive search engine. Their abstracts are
textually based, as most information of necessity is.
* CMU's On-line books page allows you to search for a particular
E-Text.
* Project Gutenberg
* Electronic Texts and Publishing, an index at the Library of
Congress.
* The Electronic Poetry Center
* The search for some HyperFiction
[ToC]
Get Lynx 2.5 Now! This page is Lynx Enhanced and proud of it.
_________________________________________________________________
Web Access Symbol (for people with disabilities) | HTML 2.0 Checked!
Blue Ribbon [Computer Advocacy][NYU]
This page is maintained by Subir Grewal, comments should be addressed
to lynx@trill-home.com.